I took my kids to St. Louis for a day trip (updated 05/10 -- now must be an overnight) to visit the city and see the Gateway Arch. If you only plan to visit the downtown area, you don't need to rent a car. Instead, you can use the light rail, which is called the Metrolink. The Metrolink takes you from Lambert (St. Louis) Airport to downtown and the Arch.
I have attached a map here: http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroBus/Maps/SystemMaps/MLSchematicMap083010.pdf for the Metrolink. You'll exit at the Arch-Laclede's Landing. The fare is $2.25 one-way.
I have attached the link to the Metrosystem: http://www.metrostlouis.org/GettingStarted/GoMetro/ for more information.
The Gateway Arch Riverfront area is nice to visit. Here's a link for the area: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/ . There is the Museum of Westward Expansion underground at the base of the Arch. The view from the top of the Arch is really neat. My kids had a great time visiting both. You can also do a one hour riverboat cruise of the Mississippi River. Here's a link: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/act.riverboat.aspx . We did not rent bicycles but you can. Here's the link for them: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/act.bike.aspx . If you spend the night, try to visit while the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball team is in town. Busch Stadium is in downtown St. Louis.
Here's some one-day, two-day, and additional itineraries that I found: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/arch.todo.itin.aspx . We walked back toward the Metrolink Station and further past the parking garage to Laclede's Landing. Laclede's Landing is basically olde town St. Louis. There are a number of restaurants. We ate at Hannegan's Restaurant and Pub, which was quite good. Here's a link to Restaurants in that area: http://lacledeslanding.com//places/places-food-drink/ . There's also shopping and entertainment. Here's a website for the area: http://lacledeslanding.com/ . Here's another website for St. Louis: http://www.explorestlouis.com/ . The Metrolink made it easy to travel from the airport. Our return was just as easy. Lambert Airport is not what it once was when TWA and Ozark Airlines had their hubs there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Field . A TWA flight from IND to STL was my first-ever commercial flight, and I remember how big and busy Lambert field was. Southwest has the most flights there now. Here's information for the airport: http://flystl.com/ . We really enjoyed our day trip to St. Louis.
Give it a try sometime!
Mike Summers Mike Summers; April 2012:
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St. Louis Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/St._Louis
Springfield, IL Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Springfield_(Illinois)
Champaign-Urbana Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Champaign-Urbana
Mike Summers - March 2007:
I took my kids to St. Louis for a day trip (updated 05/10 -- now must be an overnight) to visit the city and see the Gateway Arch. If you only plan to visit the downtown area, you don't need to rent a car. Instead, you can use the light rail, which is called the Metrolink. The Metrolink takes you from Lambert (St. Louis) Airport to downtown and the Arch.
I have attached a map here: http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroBus/Maps/SystemMaps/MLSchematicMap083010.pdf for the Metrolink. You'll exit at the Arch-Laclede's Landing. The fare is $2.25 one-way.
I have attached the link to the Metrosystem: http://www.metrostlouis.org/GettingStarted/GoMetro/ for more information.
The Gateway Arch Riverfront area is nice to visit. Here's a link for the area: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/ . There is the Museum of Westward Expansion underground at the base of the Arch. The view from the top of the Arch is really neat. My kids had a great time visiting both. You can also do a one hour riverboat cruise of the Mississippi River. Here's a link: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/act.riverboat.aspx . We did not rent bicycles but you can. Here's the link for them: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/act.bike.aspx . If you spend the night, try to visit while the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball team is in town. Busch Stadium is in downtown St. Louis.
Here's some one-day, two-day, and additional itineraries that I found: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/arch.todo.itin.aspx . We walked back toward the Metrolink Station and further past the parking garage to Laclede's Landing. Laclede's Landing is basically olde town St. Louis. There are a number of restaurants. We ate at Hannegan's Restaurant and Pub, which was quite good. Here's a link to Restaurants in that area: http://lacledeslanding.com//places/places-food-drink/ . There's also shopping and entertainment. Here's a website for the area: http://lacledeslanding.com/ . Here's another website for St. Louis: http://www.explorestlouis.com/ . The Metrolink made it easy to travel from the airport. Our return was just as easy. Lambert Airport is not what it once was when TWA and Ozark Airlines had their hubs there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Field . A TWA flight from IND to STL was my first-ever commercial flight, and I remember how big and busy Lambert field was. Southwest has the most flights there now. Here's information for the airport: http://flystl.com/ . We really enjoyed our day trip to St. Louis.
Give it a try sometime!
Mike Summers
Mike Summers; April 2012:
We did a weekend trip to St. Louis leaving on Friday and returning on Sunday. As part of our trip we drove one and one-half hours north of St. Louis on Interstate 55 to Springfield, IL to visit the Lincoln home and Lincoln's tomb. It was definitely worth the drive. Here's some websites for Lincoln sites in Springfield: http://lincolntomb.org/ and http://www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/lincoln_tomb.htm and
http://www.nps.gov/liho/index.htm and http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/hpartners/hpartnerdetail.asp?id=16 and
http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/Lincoln/ALPLM.asp and http://www.alplm.org/home.html and http://www.state.il.us/HPA/hs/old_capitol.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Presidential_Library_and_Museum and http://www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/lincoln_herndon.htm . We didn't visit the museum or the old capital, but the tomb and home site are worth the time. During our stay in St. Louis, we visited the following restaurants: The Rooster is great for breakfast (Website: http://roosterstl.com/ and
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2012/04/the_five_best_brunch_restauran.php ). The Six Row Brewery had excellent food and beers (Website: http://www.sixrowbrewco.com/ ). The Square One Brewery had great atmosphere on their patio. They serve their own beer and distilled spirits (Website: http://www.squareonebrewery.com/index.php ). The Bridge is a trendy Tap House and Wine Bar located near the Rooster Restaurant (Bridge website: http://www.thebridgestl.com/ ). We enjoyed the many adult beverage choices along with an appetizer. Lastly, we visited the Brewhouse (Website: http://www.voiceplaces.com/brewhouse-historical-sports-bar-st-louis-2630152-l/ ), which is located in the Hyatt near the Arch. This place has good food and a wide selection of beer. It was surprisingly good. We stayed at the Hyatt next to the Arch. We booked it through Hotwire for $65.00 per night. It's in a great location (Website:
http://stlouisarch.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels-stlouisarch/index.jsp?src=agn_smg_hr_ppc_adcenter_ss_propertyspecific_stlrs_hyattstlouisarch&k_clickid=5885bc0f-7727-7989-1a1a-0000546170ad&hyattprop=yes ). We wished that the Cardinals were in town, but they were vivsiting Pittsburgh during our stay. There's still plenty of things to do and see in St. Louis. Enjoy!
Mike Summers